Ervin Liu Wenyao (s10036078f)

Here's my radio story on an issue about FDWs.

Ethical Issues of FDWs.

In the current situation, policies favour the employer over the Domestic worker. Where in a lot of agencies, the worker has to foot nearly the entire agency cost by herself and the employer paying little or none of the fee. Up to the extent that some employers only pay $1 of the cost, as mentioned by one of the key speakers at the Life for Rent conference.

Though it is true that the plight of FDWs in our society today is very real, there are also cases of maids abusing those under their care, like their employers’ children, which I myself have experienced firsthand and also falsely accusing employers of crimes and then getting them into trouble. Just like what Quan Rung said on the discussion board about her uncle who got sent to jail because of his maid who falsely accused him of abuse.

Some friends I spoke to regarding this issue agreed. One of them, who prefers to remain anonymous, even told me that one of his maids threatened to poison him and his siblings if they annoyed her. The Ethical Issues problem runs both ways, both the domestic worker and the employer could abuse the system if the legislation favours one group above the other. Instead, I believe that policies, both current and those to be introduced in the future, should be balanced, and have both the welfare of the employer and employee alike in mind.

Such as the introduction of policies like compulsory day-offs, for domestic workers to perform their religious duties, or simply to relax with friends (unless the domestic worker freely chooses not to take them.)
And also equal division of payment of the agency fee between the employer and domestic worker.

In the employer’s case however, steps should be taken to change attitudes of some Singaporeans towards their maid, in some worst case scenarios, some domestic workers are treated not as human beings, but like animals, by some employers. This attitude is evidenced in the speech of some maid employers. Some Singaporeans refer to their employment of maids as, “owning maids” rather than “employ maids”. And also employers of maids should take steps to include maids as part of the family and not ostracise them and treat them as strangers.

Such changes in attitudes toward domestic workers would do a great deal in improving the bonds between the FDW and the employer. Which will lead to less maid abuse cases and also less cases of maids falsely accusing their employers of crimes they did not commit.
When I spoke to another friend, James, he agreed with me on this saying that such steps to improving relations between the FDW and employer have been long overdue. If these steps are taken, there will be a lot more happy workers in 49, 000-strong community of foreign domestic workers here in Singapore.